


Face Masks

by Rachel_Lu



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Face Masks, Fluff, Happy, Tooth Rotting Fluff, the doctor is a dork
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-06 13:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13412634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rachel_Lu/pseuds/Rachel_Lu
Summary: Rose uses a face mask, and the Doctor doesn't quite get it.Based on the prompt: Tentoo telling Rose she doesn’t need a face mask





	Face Masks

Rose had been in the bathroom for far too long.  Way too long.  How was that even possible, to stay in the bathroom for that long?  The Doctor sat, leaning against the door, chatting to her as she did- well, whatever it was she did.

“Are we going to your mum’s tomorrow or have you agreed with me that we should stay home and… Do something else?” He asked, fiddling with the sonic he was building.  

“We have to go to mum’s, Doctor, we promised,” Rose said, her voice echoing about in the bathroom.

“We don’t have to do anything, Jackie doesn’t control us,” He wrinkled his nose.  “You know we’re grown ups, right?”

“Actually, you’re only four months old,” Rose teased.

“Don’t make it weird,” The Doctor replied, mimicking a friend of Rose’s from Torchwood who often said the phrase.

Rose burst out laughing and jostled the door. “Let me out?” She asked.  The Doctor got eagerly to his feet, limbs flailing briefly before he stood there waiting for her.

“Okay, go ahead, I’ve moved.”

Rose came out in a puff of smoke, her body wrapped in green jimjams, her hair piled on the top of her head. That all made the Doctor feel very warm and fuzzy, until he saw her face looked cracked and grey.  His smile fell and he grabbed her shoulders.

“What happened to you?” He asked, eyebrows raised, “What’s on your face??”  
Rose smiled widely at him.  “Doctor- Doctor no, nothing’s wrong. It’s clay.”

“What?”

“Yeah, and I should stop smiling, it’s drying,” She schooled her expression so it was more serious.  

He frowned.  “Why did you put clay on your face?”  He tapped it and looked horrified when the sticky substance came back on his finger.  “What-  _ why?”  _

Rose wiped his finger off and started heading for the kitchen.  “It’s for cleansing my skin,” She said over her shoulder.  “You know, fixing up my pores, making me pretty.  Fancy a cuppa?”  
She was already setting up the kettle when he hooked around the corner after her at top speed. “You never did this when we traveled together. I would’ve remembered.”

“You’re right, I didn’t,” Rose nodded. “Didn’t really come on my radar till… Um, after we got separated.  Thought I might take care of my skin, try to be as youthful for as long as possible.”

“But you’re beautiful.”

She reached up and carded her hand through his hair.  “Hey.  Thank you.  I’m very happy that you like the way I look.  But I also sometimes feel self conscious.  You know?”

He shook his head. “You shouldn’t.  You’re so perfect.”

“So are you.”

She went back to making the tea, but he looked at her still, looking very afraid, or at the very least concerned.  He stared at her and she could feel it, but didn’t really want to acknowledge it because she knew he was going to have more questions or something.  He always asked things so much that sometimes she wanted to throttle him, especially in this new world. He didn’t understand everything, and she knew that frustrated him.  He was used to being the most brilliant man in the room, and sometimes he wasn't.  The fact that he didn’t understand this was probably driving him bonkers.

“I pluck my eyebrows, too,” She said, “And I dye my hair and I put makeup on and I shave.”  She peered over at him.  “None of that shocks you.”

“But you’ve done that since we’ve met. It’s… Maintaining.  This makes it look like you’re-”

“Aging?” She smiled softly, “I hate to break it to you Doctor, but I am.  And so are you.  Lucky for us, we get to do it together.  I think that’s brilliant, don’t you?”

“Of course I do!”  He sputtered.  “I’m  _ so  _ happy that we get to spend our lives together.  But you’re still in your twenties. You’re young,”  he grabbed her hands.  “I’m so happy.  But I don’t- I don’t know why you think you need to wake up your pores or something.”

Her gaze turned soft.  “Doctor, it’s just something I do for me, you don’t have to understand it.  You know?”

“But I want to.  I want to understand everything about you, you know?”

“Doctor?”

“Mm?”

“Where’s this coming from?  It’s no different than me painting my nails or doing any of those other girly things I do.”

“But this just seems like one of those anti-aging things that women do, and it- are you insecure?”  He cut himself off, which he often did when his thoughts overlapped in that big brain of his.

Rose reached up and patted his cheek. “It’s fine,” she said, “So what if I wanna look young?  You’re my boyfriend, you should be pleased that I’m trying to keep my youthful glow.  Aren’t you?”

“No matter what you look like, Rose, you’ll always be young to me.  Always.”

“Well, I’ll wipe this off when it dries and we can talk about this when I don’t feel so ridiculous.”

He seemed a little bit disappointed by that, because ever since the Doctor became human, Rose found that he liked to have discussions. She had let slip that she didn’t like all the secrets he had, so since then, he’d spilled his guts to her. As a result, she’d spilled hers right back.  It was nice, really.  To be so open with him the way she’d wanted to be from the very beginning.

“Rose?” he asked a while later, when the clay had started to turn to a lighter grey in lieu of the drying process.  She looked over at him from the telly. 

“Yeah?”

“Is your mask done?”

She tapped it and looked at her finger. “Yep!” She said, showing him the finger, “Dry.”  She got to her feet and headed to the bathroom, very aware of the anxious half- Time Lord behind her.  She looked over her shoulder at him but didn’t say anything until they were in the bathroom and she was rubbing a wet rag over her face.

“Why did you want to watch?” She asked, meeting his eyes briefly in the mirror.

He lifted his shoulders.  “You know,” he mumbled.

“I wouldn’t ask if I knew,” she reminded him.

“I just want to see what the big hubbub is about.”

She giggled and scrubbed her face in earnest until she was completely clean of the clay mask.  She turned to him and put her arms out. “Ta-da! Is it what you were expecting?”

He reached out and stroked her cheek with two fingers.  “It doesn’t feel any different,” he said, “The way you were talking, it was like-”

She wrinkled her nose. “Well, of course I’d like if it had magic effects, but it doesn’t, and that’s okay.  It’s just to take care of my skin.”

He cupped both her cheeks in his hands and leaned forward to kiss her.  She let him, smiling a little against his lips. She wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him reassuringly before he pulled back, tipping his forehead against hers.  

“You  _ are  _ beautiful,” he said softly. 

She smiled and kissed the tip of his nose.  “You too, Doctor.”


End file.
